Reclining chairs



Jan. 20; 1959 F. F. SCHLIEPHACKE 2,869,617

- RECLINING CHAIRS Filed June 18, 195'? 5 Sheets-Sheet l O 2 E s ymmm1959 F. F. SCHLIEPHACKE 2,

I RECLINING CHAIRS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 18, 1957 INVENTOR. FRIDTJOF F SCHLIEPHACKE.

ATTORNEY.

Jall- 1959 F. F. SCHLIEPHACKE 2,869,617

RECLINING CHAIRS Filed June 18, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. FRIDTJOFE SCH LIEPHACKE ATTOH'NEX United States Patent RECLINING CHAIRS FridtjofF. Schliephacke, Berlin-Schmargendorf, Germany, assignor to AntonLorenz, Boynton Beach, Fla.

Application June 18, 1957-, Serial No. 666,309

3 Claims. (Cl. 155-106) This invention relates to chairs and pertainsparticularly to reclining chairs having a backrest, a seat, and a legrest, all supported on a base frame and movable with respect to saidbase frame and with respect to each other to assume a recliningposition.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a reclining chair inwhich the backrest, seat and leg rest, when moved to reclining position,support the body of the occupant in a relaxed, comfortable position.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide aconstruction in which the operative connections between the parts of thechair are such as to permit a compact arrangement of parts adapted toconform to modern styling having a light, graceful appearance.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide aconstruction in which, in the upright position of the chair, the legrest is located beneath the seat and is substantially concealed fromview, and in which, in the reclining position of the chair, the leg restis swung downwardly, forwardly and upwardly to a position in advance ofthe seat.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

A preferred embodiment of the invention selected for purposes ofillustration is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the chair.

Figure 2 is a side elevation, one side frame of the chair being brokenaway, the chair being shown in upright position.

Figure 3 is a similar view showing the chair in reclining position.

Figure 4 is a section on the line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a perspective view, one side frame being broken away, thechair being shown in upright position.

Referring to the drawings, the base frame comprises pairs of legs 1, 2tied together transversely by cross bars 3, 4 to form a supportingcradle for the side frames 5, 6 which are rigidly secured thereto. Theside frames may be rigidly connected by a cross frame 7. The legs 1, 2and cross bars 3, 4 may conveniently be made of suitable structuralmetal shapes such as rods or tubing, and the side frames 5, 6 and crossframe 7 may conveniently be made of wood or metal, upholstered or not,as desired. The cradle and side frames together form a base frame unitsupporting the movable parts of the chair as hereinafter described.

The movable parts of the chair include a backrest 8, a seat 9, and a legrest 10. Each of these movable parts may be of any desired type ofstandard construction, upbolstered, or not, as desired. As shown, eachof these movable parts is an upholstered type, in which the upholsteryis mounted on a suitable supporting frame. In the following description,the operative connections between the movable parts will be describedwith respect to only one side of the chair, it being understood thatsaid parts are duplicated on the other side of the chair.

The backrest 8 is pivotally mounted on the side frames 5, 6 by means ofa pivot pin 11 mounted in the back rest side frame 12 and extending intosocket 13 in the side frame. Also rigidly mounted on the backrest 12 isa bar 14 which extends downwardly from pin 11 for pivotal connection tothe free end of bar 15 by means of pivot pin 16. Bar 15 is rigidlymounted on seat frame 17.

The seat 9 is pivotally connected to a lever 18 by means of pivot pin 19extending through the depending end 20 of bar 15. One end of the lever18 is pivotally mounted on the side frame 5 by means of pivot pin 21, sothat, as the chair is moved to reclining position, the rearward swingingmotion of the backrest, acting through the bars 14 and 15, acting aslevers, moves the seat forwardly, swinging the lever 18 forwardly to theposition shown in Fig. 3. In doing so the lever 18 guides and supportsthe seat, the action being such as to raise the level of the seatslightly, while at the same time increasing its angle of slope towardthe rear.

The leg rest 10 is mounted to swing on the front end of the seat 9 ashereinafter described, and means are provided, operated by the lever 18during: its forward swinging movement for actuating the leg rest tocause it to swing downwardly, forwardly and upwardly to leg supportingposition in advance of the seat. Thus, the pivot pin 19 is locatedbetween the ends of lever 18 and the other end of the lever 18 ispivotally connected by pivot pin 22 to a link 23, which, in turn,ispivotally connected by pivot pin 24 to lever 25. One end of the latteris pivotally connected to the seat frame by pivot pin 26, and the otherend is pivotally connected by pivot pin 27 to one end of lever 28.

Lever 28, which may be referred to as the leg rest actuating lever, ispivotally connected at its other end to leg rest side frame 29 by pivotpin 30, so that as the lever 28 is moved forwardly by swinging motion oflever 25, the leg rest 10 is also moved forwardly. At the same time, theleg rest is swung through an angle of about from its position beneaththe seat on leg rest supporting lever 31. One end of lever 31 ispivotally connected to seat frame 17 by pivot pin 33, and the other endof said lever is connected to one end of link 32 by pivot pin 34. Theother end of link 32 is pivotally connected to the leg rest by pivot pin35 extending through flange 36 of cross frame 37. Levers 28 and 31 arepivotally connected at points intermediate their ends by pivot pin 38.

In the upright position of the chair, as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and5, the backrest is tilted slightly backward- 1y from a verticalposition, and the seat slopes slightly downwardly from front to back inorder to provide a comfortable seated posture for the occupant. In thisposition, the leg rest is located beneath the seat, and is almostentirely concealed from view. In the reclining position of the chair, asillustrated in Fig. 2, the backrest is tilted backwardly, as shown, andthe seat is moved forwardly and upwardly while the angle of slope isincreased slightly. At the same time, the leg rest has been swungdownwardly, forwardly and upwardly to a position to support the legs ofthe occupant.

The shift from upright to reclining position may be brought aboutwhenever one sitting in the chair in its upright position exertsbackward pressure against the backrest by shifting the weight of thebody or by'pressing forwardly against the side frames of the base unit,

or both. As the backrest swings backwardly on the fixed pivot 11, levers14 and 15 move the seat forwardly, causing the lever 18 to swing onfixed pivot 21, which, in turn, raises the level of the seat somewhat.At the same time, the motion of lever 18, transmitted through link 23 tolever 25 causes the latter to swing forwardly on pivot 26 to move theleg rest actuating lever 28 forwardly. This aaeasir motion, in turn,being transmitted through lever 31 and link 32 causes the leg rest toswing on pivot 30 to the position illustrated in Fig. 3. If, now, it isdesired to resume upright position, it is only necessary to exert slightdownward pressure on the leg rest, accompanied, if desired,'by pressingbackwardly against the side frames to relieve the backward pressure ofthe body against the backrest. As the upright position is resumed, therearward motion of the seat and the lever 18, acting through the link 23and levers 25 and 28, restores the leg rest to its original positionbeneath the seat. In the upright position, moreover, the weight of theoccupant tends to hold the leg rest in fully retracted position.

It will be understood that the invention may be variously modified andembodied within the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A reclining chair comprising a base unit having opposed, spaced sideframes, a backrest located between said side frames and pivotallymounted on said side frames, a seat located between said side frames andpivotally connected to said backrest at a point below the point wheresaid backrest is mounted on said side frames, whereby said seat is movedforwardly when said backrest is tilted backwardly on said side frames, alever pivotally connected to said seat and to an opposed side frame, thepivotal connection of said lever to said seat being at an intermediatepoint of said lever, said lever swinging forwardly and supporting andguiding said seat as it moves forwardly, a leg rest mounted to swing onthe forward end of said seat, said leg rest being normally locatedbeneath said seat between said side frames, and means operated by saidlever during the forward swinging movement thereof to swing said legrest downwardly, forwardly and upwardly to a position in advance of saidseat, said means including a second lever pivotally connected to saidseat, and a link connecting said first lever to said second lever, oneend of said link being connected to an arm of said first lever extendingoppositely from the pivotal connection of said lever to said side frame,and the other end of said link being connected to an intermediate pointon said second lever.

2. A reclining chair as claimed in claim 1 in which said lever operatedmeans includes a leg rest actuating lever operatively connected to saidsecond lever and pivotally connected to said leg rest, a leg restsupporting lever pivotally connected at one end to said seat, a linkpivotally connecting the other end of said leg rest supporting lever tosaid leg rest, said leg rest actuating lever being pivotally connectedintermediate its ends to said leg rest supporting lever intermediate itsends.

3., A reclining chair as claimed in claim 1 in which said lever operatedmeans includes a leg rest actuating lever operatively connected to saidsecond lever an pivotally connectedto said leg rest.

ReferencesCited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STAT ES PATENTS GreatBritain Oct. 12, 1955

